News (Mar 19, 2009)

Spring Training Games
In the first action of the year, Florida beat Pittsburgh and Oakland handed it to San Francisco in the battle of the scrubbos. In a tight game later in the evening San Diego beat Oakland 4-3 in 10 innings as former Athletic Jeremy Hermida scored the winning run. Knowing their roster spots were on the line, several key bench players put in stellar performances, while others cracked under the pressure to achieve. Teams have until Tuesday to establish their 25 man rosters, and until the 2nd week of the season to make final cuts to the 40 man roster.

Utility players exchanged
Spring training games also provided a chance for GMs to gather and exchange some of their useless parts, hoping to find treasure among the junk piles. Pittsburgh sent high-paid but less than mediocre Carlos Silva to Oakland in exchange for late round draft pick Phil Dumatrait, while Florida sent Brian Burres and Dave Roberts to San Diego for Jeremy Reed and Austin Kearns, who was the starting right fielder for last year's champions but who has since lost a job due to his real life struggles combined with Ichiro Suzuki's move to right field.

Schedule Announced
The JSBL Commissioner's Office released the 2009 schedule this week as well. While most teams expressed satisfaction, there has been rumblings from the fans of California and Seattle who don't have their home openers until Week 3. Fans are claiming there exists favoritism towards the San Diego Padres, whose owner and GM also have key roles in the Commissioners Office. San Diego does not play a road game until they make the trip up to Oakland in Week 3. The complete schedule is available below under League Resources.